VOOS Consent Form

Participant Informed Consent for VOOS Study

About the Study

This research study is being conducted by RTI International in partnership with the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), with support from the Office of Victims of Crime. The purpose of this study is to help us improve some survey questions that will be used in a larger study to describe the experiences of jail inmates before they were admitted to jail. This week, we plan to interview about 5 men and 5 women in this facility. You were chosen randomly from this facility’s roster to be invited to be in the study.

Participation in the Study

If you decide to be in the study, I will interview you here in this private setting. The interview will take around 1 hour. I will ask you questions about your current incarceration, your housing situation and thoughts about your neighborhood before you were admitted here, details about crimes that may have happened to you before you were admitted here, your experiences getting assistance or resources for various problems, and your feelings about people in positions of authority. During the interview, I will ask you some follow-up questions to better understand your thoughts about the questions. A note taker will type notes onto a laptop computer during the interview. With your permission, we will also audio-record the interview. This is so we can accurately document what you tell us and to help us make the best use of our findings from the interview. The recording will only be heard by people on the study team and your name will not be said on the recording. At the end of the study, the recording will be deleted. Having the interview audio-recorded today is voluntary and you can request that the interview not be recorded. We will not contact you after the interview is concluded.

Voluntary Participation

The choice of whether to participate in this study is completely up to you. No one will be upset or angry if you decide not to participate. We will not tell anyone else outside of the RTI research team whether or not you decide to participate. Whether or not you participate, it will not affect the services you receive or your treatment here in the facility. Your participation will not affect your probation, parole, or post-release supervision in any way. If you decide to participate in the study, you can refuse to answer any of the questions asked in the interview. Just tell me you want to skip a question and I will go on to the next question. You can also stop the interview at any time.

Benefits

There are no direct benefits to you from participating in this study. However, by participating, you are helping us improve the survey questions so that we can learn more about the needs, concerns, and experiences of jail inmates.

Risks of Study Participation

There are two risks involved in study participation. One risk is that the questions we ask might make you feel uncomfortable or be upsetting. If you feel uncomfortable or upset during the interview, you can ask me to take a break or to skip any of the questions. The other risk is that someone might find out what you tell us during the interview. To avoid that, we will do the interview in a private setting where no one can overhear the answers. Also, all of your answers will be kept private and confidential, which will prevent anyone from finding out how you answered the questions.

Confidentiality

Federal statutes and regulations require that we keep what you tell us in the interview private and confidential. However, if you tell us that you intend to commit a crime or harm yourself in the future, we might be required to report that. Only the people working on the study will be able to see or hear your answers. No one else, including for example, your case manager or corrections officer, will be able to find out what you said during the interview. We will not share or use your name in connection with any of your answers to the interview questions.

Questions

If you have any questions about the study, you may contact the project director Chris Krebs at 919-485-5714. If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant in this study, you can contact RTI’s Office of Research Protection at 1-866-214-2043.

Do you have any questions that might help you decide whether or not you want to participate in the study?

If you understand the study and would like to do the interview, please tell me now.

If you consent to allow us to audio record the interview, please tell me now.

I agree to participate in this interview:

Yes No

You have my consent to audio-record the interview:

Yes No

Interviewer Signature Date